T31 - Highway Arch Bridges

China had built arch bridges since more than 1700 years ago.  Arch bridges have good ability to sustain compressive pressure and could be built using bricks, stones, concrete and armoured/reinforced concrete and so on.

Modern arch bridges with a big span are usually built using steel.  After the founding of the People's Republic of China, many bridges were built or rebuilt and many of them are modern arch bridges.

This set of five stamps on five depicting highway arch bridges issued on November 1, 1978, reflects the rapid development of bridge building in China.

(5-1) 8 fen, No.3 Steel Arch Jinsha River Bridge, Sichuan  川西三号桥
(5-2) 8 fen, Two-way arch Xinhong Bridge in Wuxi  无锡新虹桥
(5-3) 8 fen, Stone Arch Jiuxigou Bridge in Fengdu  丰都九溪沟桥
(5-4) 8 fen, No.6 Box Arch Jinsha River Bridge, Sichuan  川西六号桥
(5-5) 60 fen, Arched truss Shangye Bridge in Sanmen  三门上叶桥

(5-1)【No.3 Steel Arch Jinsha River Bridge, Sichuan】Located in the prefectural city of Panzhihua (攀枝花), in the far south of Sichuan Province, on the confluence of the Jinsha (金沙江) and Yalong (雅砻江) Rivers, connecting the north shore of Midi (密地) and south shore of Bingcaogang (炳草岗).  Also call Old Jinsha Midi Bridge (金沙江老密地大桥).  Date of bridge foundation September 1966 and completed on May 1, 1969.  This bridge is a steel truss arch bridge, with total length 284.5 meters, main span 181 meters and total deck width 12.06 meters.  After so many years of usage, this bridge is unable to meet the needs of economic development and has long-time overload issues; and is replaced by the New Jinsha Midi Bridge.

(5-2)【Two-way arch Xinhong bridge in Wuxi】Located in Xin'anzhen (新安镇), Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, over the Jinhang Canal (京杭运河).  It was a reinforced concrete bridge with main span of 80 meters, completed in 1973.  This bridge was demolished in the 1990's when the canal was enlarged.

(5-3)【Stone Arch Jiuxigou Bridge in Fengdu】Located in Sanjianxiang (三建乡) , Fengdu County (丰都), in the east of Sichuan Province, on the Longhe (龙河), a tributary of Yangtze River .  Date of bridge foundation July 1, 1971 and completed on July 1, 1972.  This is a stone arch bridge, with total length 140 meters and main span 116 meters.  It was the largest stone arch bridge in the world in 1972 and held this record for 18 years. 

(5-4)【No.6 Box Arch Jinsha River Bridge, Sichuan】Located in the prefectural city of Panzhihua (攀枝花), in the far south of Sichuan Province, on the river Jinsha (金沙江).  Also call Xinzhuang Bridge (新庄大桥) and was built with reinforced concrete.  Date of bridge foundation October 1970 and completed on December, 1972., with total length 323.7 meters, main span 146 meters and total deck width 15.5 meters

(5-5)【Arched truss Shangye Bridge in Sanmen】Located in Haiyouzhen (海游镇), Sanmen County (三门县), Zhejinag Province, along the road from Sanmen to Tiantai (天台).  This is a reinforced concrete bridge, completed in 1972.  After so many years of usage, this bridge is unable to meet the needs of economic development and has long-time overload issues; and is replaced by a new bridge.

T31 – Highway Arch Bridges  公路拱桥 Issue Date: 1978.11.1
Serial Number:	T31
Scott Number:	1447-1451
Michel Number:	1457-1461
Number of stamps in Set:	5
Denomination:	8 fen for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4 60 fen for stamp 5
Quantity of Issue:	20,000,000 for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4 2,500,000 for stamp 5
Perforation:	P11½ X 11
Sheet Composition:	50 (10 X 5) for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Size of stamps:	30 X 40 mm for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Designer:	Lu Tianjiao 卢天骄
Printing Process:	Photogravure
Printing House:	Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works